Fly-By-Night Productions

Project Title: Design and Development of a Helicopter Flight Simulator

Sponsor Company: The Boeing Company

Instructor: Dr. Steve Copley, Professor of Mechanical Engineering

Team Members:

Carolyn Cooper
Erik Platt
Ryan Zepp
Frank Zgoda

Date: December 12, 2003

Executive Summary

The Boeing helicopter flight simulator control stick had a connection problem with the actuator for the simulator. The actuator would not be able to accurately track the control stick with the bearing plate mount that was currently in use. The intent was focused on rebuilding the mount that linked the actuator with the control stick and designing a storage unit to hold all the many pieces of the flight simulation gear.
When thoughts of redesigning the mount for the control stick were considered, the first design consideration was for a trunion mount. While disassembling the control stick for measurements, a better solution was discovered. A cable with forward and reverse force feels motion is to be used. The cable was able to have direct attachment with the control stick without any play and offered the freedom of a movable system.
The storage unit that was designed and built gives the flight simulator a much neater and more compact area. With slide-out shelves, the unit makes accessing each part easier and with less mess and confusion.

Actuator with bearing plate mount

Actuator

Helicopter Flight Simulator